Trend on Trial: Up-do, liner & lips

At a time when everyone is talking about ’no make-up make-up’ and perfectly undone hair (yes, we realise that’s an oxymoron) it feels like attempting all-out, I-need-at-least two- hours glamour flies in the face of reality. The look at Dolce & Gabbana’s a/w 2013 show was not one of restraint. Make-up artist Pat McGrath pulled out the big guns with heavily lined eyes, deep claret lips and velvety complexions while hair received the same all-or-nothing treatment with stylist Guido Palau teasing it into a glossy bouffant beehive. Together they’re a statement that confidently screams Tippi Hedren. This ultra-glam look may well have worked in Sixties Hollywood but does it look out of place today?

Evie Leatham Stylist’s Beauty Director says:

This harks back to an altogether different era. I drew along lashes with a thick inky felt-tipped liner and slathered on enough red lipstick to leave pucker marks on a fair few men’s upturned cheeks. I love the liner, the lips, the precisely backcombed hair – but separately. All three together is too Stepford-Wife-collides-with stunning- Italian-matriarch. There’s something undeniably elegant about looking this level of ‘done’ but I fear it’s from another world, along with pill-box hats, crocodile vanity cases and a little more time on one’s hands.

Anita Bhagwandas Stylist’s Beauty and Features Writer says:

A full-on ’hive seems weird to me – too reminiscent to be cool and too contained to be modern; when I’ve tried it before I’ve ended up looking like a rogue Supreme. This mini-hive, however, is ace. After a night on the lash, my hair is jutting out in every direction, so smoothing it out, plumping it up and pinning it down is a veritable saviour. A slick of red across my lips and a winged out eyeliner amps up the glam factor. My toolkit: Redken Quick Tease, a tailcomb and plenty of guile. This is the ultimate way to look polished.

Samantha Flowers, Stylist’s Beauty Editor Says:

There is such a thing as too much. Backstage at Dolce, I loved watching hair and make-up gods Palau and McGrath create this look, but in reality it’s just all wrong on me. An up-do, winged liner and a red lip? No, no, no. Pick one and stick to it.

VERDICT

Ultra-sophisticated? Yes. Thoroughly lady-like? Totally. But who has the time? We love elements of this look; the feline eye is beautiful, the dark lips are a wintery alternative to red, and we will definitely be giving the beehive another go. But given that we subscribe to the less-is-more approach to beauty, we’ll be picking and choosing one element at a time.